


The Laying of Hands

by misura



Category: Knightfall (TV 2017)
Genre: Hand Jobs, Huddling For Warmth, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-08 01:20:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21467698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Strip," Talus said. "Now. That's an order.""You can have my clothes after I'm dead," Landry said. He felt that was generous enough. Reasonable, even.
Relationships: Landry du Lauzon/Talus
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	The Laying of Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aurae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurae/gifts).

Landry had never imagined he would die by freezing to death, but if this was the death God had chosen for him, Landry would accept His infinite wisdom.

He tried to come up with some appropriate prayer of thanks, if at all possible with an addendum to request God to please look after his loved ones - there were a couple that would be perfect for the occasion, he was sure, if only he could remember how they started, but then Talus shoved him and Landry lost his train of thought along with his balance.

"Strip," Talus said. "_Now_. That's an order."

"You can have my clothes after I'm dead," Landry said. He felt that was generous enough. Reasonable, even. "My weapons as well. May they serve me as well as they have served me."

Talus stared at him like he was an idiot.

Landry tried to think of some last words of wisdom to share. With Tancrede, it would have been easier. Tancrede had been his friend for many years. Heaven for all its glory would not be the same without Tancrede also there.

Talus - well. Landry knew he had felt conflicted about Talus from time to time. It had had nothing to do with Talus, he was sure. God had simply chosen Talus as His instrument to once again tempt Landry to sins of the flesh, a temptation Landry had resisted with success.

It had probably helped that Talus hadn't given any sign that he felt the least inclined to sins of the flesh himself. Even so, Landry thought he might take pride in his perseverance in keeping his oaths of chastity. As all brothers knew, fantasies didn't count. As long as the hand on your cock was your own, your soul was as pure and clear as your conscience.

"Why would I want your weapons?" Talus asked. "I already have weapons. And clothes, too."

Landry nodded, pleased to have gotten this settled. "That is good. That is as it should be."

Talus grimaced. "Landry. Take off your clothes. You need to get warm, and so do I."

"God will provide," Landry said. "Faith, brother."

"God _has_ provided," Talus said. "Specifically, God has provided me with you. Are you questioning God's choice?"

Landry frowned. Something about that reasoning felt off, and yet he couldn't quite put his finger on what, exactly, it was. Talus had already taken off his own shirt, though, and Landry could see how it would be bad if he fell behind, if he let Talus do this alone.

Brothers stood together, after all. That was the first rule of the Temple, and God would surely want Landry to follow that rule, even if it meant stripping in front of the man He had chosen as the instrument of Landry's second temptation.

Landry blinked when the realization struck him. Of course! This was to be a test. It all became clear now. Landry need do nothing but resist, and all would be well.

He would have uttered a quick prayer of thanks, except that Talus was waiting, so Landry quickly started stripping as well, cursing the clumsiness of his hands. The cold made every man weak, true, yet Talus moved smoothly enough, undoubtedly warmed by the faith in his heart.

Talus was a good man, truly. Landry knew he had sometimes been uncharitable in his thoughts as well as lustful, but he knew now that Talus had deserved neither.

"Better late than never, I suppose," Talus commented once Landry was done. "Come here. I won't bite," he added, baring his teeth in a grin. "Not even if you ask me nicely."

The cold, Landry decided. It addled people's brains. He felt it had addled his own, making it hard to think clearly, to remember that prayer he'd been trying to think of - not that it mattered now, given that Talus seemed intent on saving them both.

"Why would anyone ask you to - " he started asking when the fantasy slipped into his mind of Talus's mouth on him, the sensation of lips and tongue and teeth on his skin.

Landry told himself the beard would make it much more itchy than any sort of erotic, but his cock seemed to disagree.

"I see you figured that one out on your own. Well done," Talus said, beckoning Landry closer.

Landry went, though it felt an awful lot like giving in to temptation rather than turning his back on it as he ought. "It's the cold," he said. The snow had begun to melt a little, but slowly, reluctantly. A fire would have sped things up, but there was no fire here, no kindling. Only the two of them.

"Of course it's the cold," Talus said. His hands, his touch felt like a lover's. "You think I'd do any of this voluntarily? With _you_?"

Landry felt himself begin to shiver. Rationally, he knew it was not a sign of weakness, only of having gotten thoroughly chilled. "Are we not brothers? Would you not do the same for each and every one of us?"

"Would you?" Talus asked. "Ten seconds ago, you were all ready to die. Now look at you."

"It was the cold," Landry mumbled. "The cold." Talus's hands were moving, rubbing warmth into his skin somehow. Landry wished he could return the favor, but his own hands felt like ice.

"Yes, yes, everything is the cold's fault," Talus said. "Of course it is. By no means take responsibility for your own actions."

"You did this," Landry said. He was beginning to feel drowsy. Talus's body felt good against his own, solid and warm, almost like a blanket. "You made me - "

"I made you do what?" Talus asked, voice sharp.

"Live," Landry said. He felt wronged, and tired, and yet somehow also like God had graced him with this new chance, with more time to stay on earth and perhaps see his daughter grow up, and in all these things, Talus had been instrumental.

"Yes. Terrible, aren't I?" Talus said. "Come on. Down we go. Nice and easy does it."

"Down's bad," Landry said. "Up. Up is where heaven is."

"Up is also where the snow comes from, and the rain, and birdshit. You think that when a bird shits on your head, it's God's doing?"

"Everything is God's doing," Landry said. He wanted, rather desperately, to feel what it would be like to kiss Talus, to feel Talus's mouth against his own, to have Talus's mouth on him, even if Talus had said he wouldn't, not even if Landry would ask nicely.

"Good answer." Talus sounded almost surprised. "Perhaps there's hope for you yet."

"There's always hope," Landry said. The last person he'd held this closely, this intimately had been Joan, who was dead. Now there was Talus, who had made him live. "Always."

"You're still aroused." Talus's hand brushed Landry's erection as if it was only another part of his body, and not a particularly interesting one at that. "What are you hoping for there, then? For me to do something about that? Would that be something one brother does for another?"

Landry knew a trick question when he heard one. "No."

"Now that's a lie. You just lied to one of your brothers," Talus said. "And for what? Pride? That's a sin, you know. A cardinal one, even. So how about we try this again. What do you want, Landry?"

"Your hand - " Landry managed to swallow the rest. He felt ashamed, and weak. God had tested him, and he had failed. Talus had tested him on God's behalf, and he had failed.

Now God would punish him, and Talus would - 

"What are you doing?" Landry felt the shock of the contact, as well as the pleasure of it all through his body.

"If you need to ask, it seems I'm not doing it right," Talus said. "And I'm pretty sure I am, in fact, doing it right. So what's your problem _now_, Landry? And do you ever stop having problems? Ever?"

Landry moaned. He hadn't meant to, he thought; it had simply happened. "You can't - "

"Of course I can," Talus said.

"Shouldn't, then," Landry amended. "I'm a sinner. A failure. I don't deserve - "

"You deserve whatever God chooses to give you," Talus said. "Do you disagree with that? Careful now."

"You have your hand on my - and you expect me to be able to _think_? To debate you?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd shut up and let me get on with things, but this being you, I suppose I should have known better," Talus said. "I'll be expecting you to return the favor, by the way, so I hope you're paying more attention than it looks like you're doing."

Landry shivered - not from the cold this time, he thought. "I have always striven to be a good student," he said. He wondered what it would be like, to reduce Talus as Talus reduced him, to hear Talus stutter and stammer and lose his ability to form whole sentences.

"Could have fooled me," Talus said.

"Please," Landry whispered. His body felt warm all over, almost hot. A virtuous man would have begged Talus to stop. A virtuous man would, perhaps, have refused Talus entirely, orders and arguments notwithstanding. They might have both frozen to death, but that might have been God's will. "Please."

"Please what?" Talus asked. "Please hurry? Please slow down?"

"Your mouth - " Landry said. If he were damned, he'd as soon do it properly.

Talus chuckled. "I warned you, didn't I? Not even if you asked me nicely."

"I'm not asking," Landry said. He was close, so close already. "I'm begging."

Talus sighed. "If you put it like that, I suppose you leave me no choice."

"Thank you," Landry said, and then Talus gave him what Landry had been wanting for longer than he had been wanting to admit even to himself, and the wave of pleasure built and built until it came crashing down over him, sweeping him along towards completion, and for a moment, he knew nothing more.

The moment passed, and Talus said, "Loud, aren't you? Remind me to plug my ears next time."

"There's not going to be a next time," Landry said, ignoring the way his body still felt aglow with pleasure.

"Sure there isn't," Talus said.


End file.
